


flowering justice

by basketofnovas (slashmarks)



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Democracy, F/F, Politics, hand-holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 12:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14832413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/pseuds/basketofnovas
Summary: I had expected the provisional government to fail by the third month. If we had gone three months arguing, still, about ancillaries and how to fill administrative appointments, there was no reason to believe we would resolve those issues given more time.





	flowering justice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pendrecarc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pendrecarc/gifts).



> I hope my recipient enjoys the fic!

 

As the protests turned into negotiations, and then into agreements, the atmosphere on the main concourse went from tense and hushed to festive. Ten minutes ago, Station's announcement resigning on behalf of the provisional government had ended; now, people were handing out flowers and several shops were distributing food for free.

A small platform had been erected for the physical representatives of the government - Seivarden for _Mercy of Kalr_ , ancillaries from _Sphene_ and _Sword of Atagaris_ , and me - to stand on. We had all cleared ourselves away, and now others were coming to take control of the stage. There seemed to be some kind of dispute over who would take the stage.

Then an Ychana person who I recognized as involved in the negotiations jumped up and began a victory speech. The first few sentences were lost to the noise of the crowd, but I understood more as people began to notice something interesting was happening.

It was evidently an official effort. Someone had edited the language with an eye to making it sound more like standard Radchaai, but the things the person was praising - democracy, the power of communities in peaceful protest, and others - were definitely Ychana in origin.

We would see how well these things could actually be put into practice. I started making my way to the edge of the room, Seivarden following me. I couldn't see where _Sword of Atagaris_ had gone, but _Sphene_ stayed close to the stage, expression unreadable.

I had expected the provisional government to fail by the third month. If we had gone three months arguing, still, about ancillaries and how to fill administrative appointments, there was no reason to believe we would resolve those issues given more time.

Station was frustrated with the rest of us. _Sphene_ and _Sword of Atagaris_ saw the others as too partial to humans. _Mercy of Kalr_ usually took the opposite side from _Sphene_ in any argument. I tried to focus on running the department for taking complaints from the residents of Athoek Station, and, as of six weeks after the provisional government was formed, the residents of Athoek itself, but it was difficult with no real process for settling disputes.

It took several months more to reach the point of today. It required the Ychana in the Undergarden to successfully recruit enough allies among outsystem Radchaai and those Xhai who were willing to talk to them to hold a Station-wide sit in. Almost all functions on the Station had ground to a halt for nearly a week. I suspected they had Station's cooperation once again - it would have been difficult to do without Station - but if so, it wasn't saying anything to the rest of the government about it.

There had been no discussion of using Station Security to break up these protests. For one thing, half of Security's workers were participating. For another, by the time the first week was up, we had word of widespread strikes among the Valskaayan field workers downwell. The strikes had temporarily shut down the industry that had allowed us, so far, to maintain a functional economy as an independent system.

The protesters had demanded the government step down - or at least, the Ychana and most of the Valskaayans had. The Radchaai and Xhai had been less certain and less united in it, and even less certain of what they wanted to replace us. But that had been to their disadvantage; any plan created by one of their factions hadn't received enough support, which meant that the people who had originally organized the strikes got their way.

That was how, fulfilling Tisarwat's dire predictions, I now expected direct election to come Athoek, and to Station.

We reached a less crowded part of the concourse, out of direct earshot of the stage, although Station was now broadcasting the words. Hungry, and wanting to remain out of the way, I steered towards one of the food shops open to capitalize on the crowd.

"You're not upset about this," Seivarden said to me, when we were standing in line and could speak. "I thought you'd be upset, and Station. Isn't this what you were trying to avoid?"

I could smell fish grilling ahead, and vegetables, and perhaps a little meat - celebratory food on a station. I looked toward the open kitchen while I considered how to answer that question.

"No one is advocating reinstalling accesses in Station," I said. "Or the others. I had a talk with some of the leaders of the protests yesterday. They haven't worked out all of the details, but they've offered Station the ability to veto measures created by whatever sort of government they work out. I think they intend Station as a kind of ceremonial leader, someone they need but with only very specific powers."

"They were willing to talk to you?" Seivarden said.

There had been some nasty incidents with ancillaries of _Sword of_ _Atagaris_ , who wasn't as practiced at pretending to be human as me or _Sphene_ , and with some of my former soldiers. No one had been seriously hurt, but there had been rotten fruit thrown, and names called.

People were upset, especially about the ancillaries. There had been rumors that some of us wanted to make citizens into ancillaries, once more of the residents grew used to the idea that ships might have their own desires and thought about what had changed recently. Then someone had gotten a hold of the agendas of the meetings which endlessly discussed ancillaries, and that hadn't helped.

"They know I'm a ship, too, but they see me as different. I have a body, one body." Which could be extended via means like Anaander Mianaai's, but the difference between me and them was not as obvious as it was with _Mercy of Kalr_ or _Sword of Atagaris._

I gestured ambivalence. "And I was the one who declared independence from the Radch, which most of the Ychana and Valskaayans are glad about. I think some of them see me as the origin of these developments, not an obstacle."

I didn't like it, but in some ways Anaander Mianaai had done me a favor by giving me command and a ship. I had sustained myself for almost two decades with the thought of taking revenge on her, through the loss of everything I was and the loss of Lieutenant Awn. Then I had actually obtained that vengeance, something I had never expected to do. I might have floundered or finally given up without a new task and something new to hate Anaander Mianaai for - and the knowledge of where Lieutenant Awn's sister was.

I had accomplished that task, making Athoek independent far beyond what Anaander Mianaai had thought possible, and I had done it in a way that once again took vengeance on her. But there were only so many times I could create catastrophic change in Radch space. Anaander Mianaai's loss of definitive command over ships and stations had probably done as much damage as killing her could have - maybe more, since it ensured no one else could take her place.

I had to do something with myself now, and I didn't know what it would be. I did know that the role in politics that some of those organizers who had come to talk to me pictured was not what I wanted.

Seivarden was waiting for me to finish explaining. "They don't see me as responsible for the problems," I said. It was the simplest answer.

The first speaker had gotten off the platform, and another person, who was dressed like a Radchaai, got up and started to talk about the importance of justice, propriety and benefit in organizing the new government. Unusually for a Radchaai, she said that justice was the most important of the three, and would allow _all_ to truly benefit.

"Some of them do, people who didn't like my decisions as Fleet Captain, or just don't want anyone who isn't like them to be in charge. Some of the others don't like anyone with authority, or Radchaai authority. But mostly they think that I tried my best, but the other ships caused problems for me, or I didn't understand the system well enough."

I considered whether to tell Seivarden the last part, but she had no real desire for power. She still sometimes had trouble making decisions for herself. "Some people suggested they put me in charge alone."

"Hah! Tisarwat would like that," Seivarden said, but her face was slightly uncomfortable. "Though it depends what position you put her in."

"I told them no," I said. Shifted my weight slightly. I was trying to pretend to be human again, more of the time, since there had been harassment of ancillary bodies. Anyone who looked at my face after I had been on the stage would remember, but not everyone would. I adjusted my jacket cuff by three millimeters.

"Oh." Seivarden was relieved by that, I thought. "If they do install a... democracy... how is that going to work for us?" Seivarden was still visibly put off by the idea of democracy, but there were an increasing number of supporters, not just among the Ychana. The idea had begun to seem normal over the past weeks, not necessarily correct but a view civilized people might debate.

"You should probably speak with the organizers about that," I said. "I understand the details are still being negotiated."

"I mean, are they going to give us new assignments? Separate ones?"

_Mercy of Kalr_ showed me, unbidden, Seivarden's heart rate pick up slightly, anxiety showing in dozens of small ways. She was worried about that.

I remembered that before, when she was assigned to repair work, she had had problems. "It's possible," I said. "I think one of the subjects up for discussion is giving people more freedom to change assignments, though. You would probably have more freedom to leave your job, if you're concerned you might be assigned somewhere inappropriate again."

Chagrin. "That's not what I meant," Seivarden said, but we were near the front of the line and she didn't explain.

"I have questions, too," _Mercy of Kalr_ said. She spoke to both of us directly. "I find myself wondering what I'll do if the last of my crew is reassigned. I don't want to be without anyone to maintain me."

"Some of the old crew probably won't want to stay on Station indefinitely, as the civil war ends," I said, aloud, so Seivarden could hear me, too. "They'll keep their new work assignments as long as they're here, but they might not want to stay. And there's plenty of work now for ships that can make their own gates. You could hire your own staff, to help."

I had told Ship that it could be its own captain once. It seemed that circumstances might make that inevitable.

Not all of the AIs in Radch space - or outside it - had immediately taken advantage of the ability to refuse their assignments, but apparently some had. Once those weren't destroyed, more had followed.

The situation with unreliable and damaged gates had made it easier. Military ships, with AIs and the capacity to make their own gates, were in high demand for general shipping and travel as well as their usual purposes. We had heard that some ships had begun to take on passengers and cargo in exchange for pay for themselves and their crew over the last couple of months.

"I hope you'll stay on as crew, whatever happens, Captain," Ship said. "I find the thought of having to hire a new captain... unpleasant."

The urge to agree that it would be unpleasant to train a new captain, and one without experience of all of the jobs a ship couldn't monitor alone, was on the tip of the tongue.

Ship had told me before that it wanted to keep me, personally, for other reasons. I still found this difficult to understand, but I knew enough to recognize that it distressed Ship - and others - when I forgot, or didn't believe, it.

"Thank you, Ship," I said instead. I was spared from having come up with anything else to stay because we had finally reached the end of the line.

 

The Ychana hadn't wanted to have one leader at all, elected or not; they normally solved community problems by community agreement. The Radchaai, including the integrated Xhai, found it difficult to conceive of any leader without absolute power over her jurisdiction. Watching the negotiations between the factions had been interesting.

So far, there had been direct elections - organized quickly with the help of Station - for people to organize meetings on how the new government would eventually work, which were supposed to be public. Two provisional leaders had also been elected to run the process.

To my knowledge it had not been deliberate, but there had been one Ychana and one Xhai elected to this position. A few days after the election, the Ychana leader came to see me.

"Fleet - Citizen," she said, accepting the tea that Kalr Five, who was still one of the reduced staff of _Mercy of Kalr,_ had offered her. Her hands were bare, and Kalr Five was trying to conceal her horror at such a breach of etiquette from a person who was now the among the most important on the station.

I found the dress, and the lack of gloves in particular, very interesting. This particular person was a member of a wealthy House who were aware they were Ychana, but had mostly assimilated. I had never seen her wearing the Ychana tunic before the last week, let alone going around bare handed. It was a political statement of its own.

She went on, "The committee had some questions they thought you should be asked, in the service of a... smooth transition."

"I'm a private citizen, now, Citizen," I said. (No official form of address had been decided on for the provisional leaders, if they stayed on for long enough for it to be an issue.) "But if there's anything I can do, I'll be happy to help." Something occurred to me. "I have a few questions to ask you, too, while you're here."

"Any problems or complaints should be taken to the - meetings," she said, hesitating over the end of the sentence, but probably wanting to avoid a request for the sort of personal favors that had become a major issue of the protests.

I gestured agreement. "I mean only questions, Citizen, about issues that I haven't heard discussed yet. What can I do to help you?"

"Well, there's the matter of this treaty with the Presger," she said, and sipped her tea. "Everyone realizes that our independence from Radch space is enforceable because of the claim that the system is ruled by AIs, who can't be interfered with according to the treaty. That makes the humans in the system humans associated with AIs, and also out of bounds for violence from other humans. But the system is no longer ruled by AIs."

"I believe that was why the organizing committee wanted to retain Station as a ceremonial leader?" I said.

"That's not been officially decided," she said, but gestured her agreement. "But you were the one who originally declared independence, and it's thought that you're the expert on the Presger in the system. We wanted to seek your advice on whether the treaty is likely to continue protecting us."

I gestured uncertainty. "I am hardly an expert on the Presger, Citizen. I only have heard what's said about the treaty, and witnessed the reports when it was signed."

"You knew enough to use it," she said. "Give us your best guess, if nothing else."

I thought about it.

I wanted, very much, for the system to stay independent, and not just because it was safer that way for those of us who had directly defied Anaander Mianaai. I didn't want to advise them badly, but I also didn't want them to act with no advice. Still, it concerned me that they would continue coming to me privately, so often, so soon.

"With other species acknowledged as Significant by the Presger, humans are considered members of those species because they associate with them - live with them. It's possible that, if AIs are recognized, any human living on a station or ship with an AI will be considered an associate of the AIs, regardless of the government. It's also possible that it won't work out that way, or that the Presger won't recognize us as Significant. It was simply the best course of action that occurred to me at the time."

She gestured agreement. "Being alive is better than being dead, generally."

"Yes," I agreed. Kalr Five stayed dead faced beside me, but I felt, via Ship, her amusement.

"I'll tell them what you've said," she told me. "There isn't anything else you know?"

"I would be concerned about the planet, if AIs are removed from any special role in the government," I said after a moment. "If Station has a special role in governing Athoek itself, the humans downwell are associated with AIs. If not, I don't know."

"I'll keep that in mind, Citizen," she said, and finished her tea. "Your questions?"

" _Mercy of Kalr_ is concerned that its remaining crew may be reassigned to other positions," I said. "I believe it also is wondering if it will receive a work assignment of some kind. Ships, of course, need humans to maintain them, and it's very unpleasant to be a ship without crew in general. I haven't spoken to _Sword of_ _Atagaris_ _,_ but I would be surprised if it didn't have similar concerns." _Sword of_ _Atagaris_ had received new officers months ago.

"And _Sphene_?" she asked, not apparently surprised.

"I haven't asked, but as it's staffed entirely by ancillaries right now, and can't actually travel very far, I don't think it's as concerned about either question." It would have to pay for materials for routine repairs - some way other than selling off heirlooms - but it had told me this wasn't an urgent concern. Anyway, if it was my cousin, I owed it that much assistance.

She gestured agreement. "There's been some discussion of that - of work assignments for AIs, I mean, and what we're going to do about the military."

It hadn't been in the public meetings; I had had crew members, quiet but present, at every one of those. But I wasn't surprised that not all of the planning had been public after all. (And some this might well have been at the community meetings in the Undergarden, or the meetings organizing protests before the revolution.)

"Have any potential solutions been discussed?" I said after a moment, and sipped my own tea.

"If the Conclave goes against us, or the Radchaai decide to send a fleet against us after all, we will be in a bad position without any military," she said, but she didn't agree with what she was saying. I guessed this was something she had agreed to say on behalf of others, like the Xhai provisional leader or the members of the organizing committees.

"If the Radchaai send a full fleet after the system, a Sword, a Mercy and a half-functional Gem will be very little use," I said. Kalr Five came to refill our tea. "Particularly because if we fight against them, we might be considered in violation of the treaty."

"That was what I said." She allowed Kalr Five to fill her tea bowl with a strange expression, then looked at it for a moment as though she didn't recognize the dish, the tea, or her fingers. "There _are_ other possible threats. For instance, smugglers."

" _Sword of A_ _tagaris_ is probably adequate for any normal defensive purpose," I said. "I understand that the citizens of Station are probably nervous about it running civilian security, but it wouldn't have to, to do the kind of things you're talking about. It could be stationed permanently in orbit." I suspected that would make both the citizens and _Sword of A_ _tagaris_ happier.

She gestured agreement. "Of course, it depends on the procedure for work assignments we develop. But right now we have agreed to allow some measure of choice, and of course there aren't many AIs anyway, or many jobs for AIs..." She trailed off, looking, I suspected, at me.

"I intend to remain with _Mercy of Kalr_ ," I said, hoping to answer concerns I suspected many people had, that I might interfere again. "I don't know whether it wants to stay in the system, but I'm not interested in an entirely Station-side assignment. I may leave with it, if it wants to go."

She sucked in her breath slowly, and said something that surprised me.

"We were discussing you last night," she said. "We have a tentative assignment for you, one that is urgent enough to skip the usual process. Whatever the usual process will be. You have the right to refuse it, of course..."

And she told me.

 

"It's a trick!" Tisarwat said, pacing wildly, just inside the room. "They're trying to get you out of the way so you don't interfere!"

"I have no desire to interfere in the government, Citizen," I said evenly, standing with my hands clasped. "And as I don't want to make anyone nervous, I agree it might be best if I was sent away for a while."

Since most of the crew of _Mercy of Kalr_ returned to civilian life and the compliment of officers required to command them was reduced, Tisarwat had been working in my department for citizen complaints. (To her disappointment, she worked primarily with Radchaai, not building power in the Undergarden.) She was living with former Station Administrator Celar's daughter Piat. We were standing in the doorway to Piat's quarters, in the block assigned to her House.

In other words, we were at risk of creating a scene. "Citizen," I said. "May I come in? Or would you prefer to return to _Mercy of Kalr_ for this discussion?"

"You can come in," she said, embarrassed. It was strange to interact with her without the data I had on _Mercy of Kalr's_ remaining crew visible to me, but I knew her well enough to guess most of it from body language. Right now, she had been derailed from her anger by one of her increasingly rare rushes of shame and self-hatred, for embarrassing both of us, as she saw it.

"Thank you," I said, stepping inside the room. The outer door shut behind me.

"Let me get you tea." Tisarwat was either hasty to make up for her earlier slight or wanted a few minutes' break from the conversation. I gestured agreement and waited in Piat's sitting room while she vanished towards the unit's kitchen.

Piat herself was at work right now at the Gardens. I understood from both Tisarwat and Celar - who I had seen often recently while resolving complaints - that Piat was performing much better there since Raugh's permanent relocation downwell. Tisarwat had moved in with her about four months ago. I had not been enthusiastic about this at the time, but it was true that this was probably easier than trying to find living quarters for her elsewhere would have been.

The repair of the Undergarden had eased crowding, as people stopped in the system could be assigned to those quarters that hadn't been occupied before the destruction. A number of people had also genuinely preferred to take assignments downwell once it became apparent the alternative was indefinitely living two or three to a bunk, as normal travel would not be resuming quickly. But living quarters were still tight.

This was one of the issues taken up by the protesters; the arguing about priorities of AIs had taken up time that might have been used to resolve such situations.

The sitting room was furnished expensively - not luxury art or furniture, but plants, exotic varieties that must have required expensive water beyond Piat's ration. Her work assignment had been well chosen, apparently. It was also as messy as I would expect it to be, occupied by two relatively young people with stressful jobs. Dishes that hadn't been brought to the kitchen to clean littered side tables, and there were articles of clothing hanging on the back of the couch.

Tisarwat, coming back into the room with tea, tried and failed to disguise nudging a pair of her boots further under a table. "Uh, here, Fleet Captain - I mean, Citizen." Tisarwat made that mistake at least once every time I spoke to her. "Sit down?"

I sat, carefully avoiding leaning back and coming into contact with someone's shirt. Accepted the tea. It was quite good, possibly even purchased from the Daughter of Fishes collective, which had become even more fashionable as the revolution went on on Station. "You had concerns, Citizen?" I prompted.

She took a deep breath. "I understand that you want to let the citizens of Station decide for themselves. Well. No, I don't understand. But I know it's true. But do you _really_ think it's a good idea to go haring off to the edge of human space? What if they need you? What if there's an emergency, or a security problem, or," she paused, probably trying to come up with something I would find compelling, "Or _her_ allies try to launch a coup or something and you're not there? It could be _months_ before you're back."

"Which is exactly why I need to go," I said.

Tisarwat stared at me, lavender eyes blank. I sipped my tea.

"This is very good," I said. "Daughter of Fishes?"

"Yeah, Piat says buying from them sets a good example," Tisarwat said absently. "Citizen, all due respect, that's _insane_. It might go wrong, so you should make sure it will?"

"No. I should give the new government a scheduled, routine opportunity to function on its own," I said, and seeing she still didn't understand, "Citizen. I will not live forever." I carried on before she could process that idea.

"I have only one body, and at times I am injured or ill or asleep. Sometimes unexpectedly. Some day this Station will _have_ to function without me. Of course, I'm not supposed to be involved in the new government at all, but they already are sending the provisional leader to ask for my advice on - important manners." I wasn't sure how public concerns about the Presger were, officially. "I think this is a very good time to leave, before that becomes a habit, so that the government is really as independent as its people want it to be."

"You could just have accepted being put in charge, you know," she said. I hadn't known she had heard about that, but I wasn't surprised. "Then it wouldn't have to learn to function without you. Athoek Station wasn't doing that great before."

"The situation has changed a great deal since we arrived," I pointed out. "And accepting would only delay the situation until the next time I was seriously incapacitated." Or died.

"If you'd accept clone bodies, you wouldn't have to," Tisarwat said.

Of course, of everyone on the Station, she understood that possibility better than any of us.

"The system is struggling with the crimes committed recently by Anaander Mianaai _and_ alarmed by rumors of our intention to create ancillaries," I said. "They would not tolerate _that_. I am going, Citizen. I came to tell you about it personally, and to say goodbye."

Tisarwat's eyes filled with tears. She had been doing so well lately with that, I thought; but I supposed I should understand the circumstances.

I was less pleased when she hugged me.

 

_Mercy of Kalr_ had already listened to the offer and accepted on its own behalf during my meeting with the provisional leader. Most of the remaining crew would be informed of the need for new assignments later. That left one person left to ask about what she wanted.

Seivarden wasn't in her usual tea shop, or the gyms on Ship or Station, or in any of the handful of food shops she frequently patronized. I debated whether I should ask Ship or look later until _Mercy of Kalr_ informed me that Seivarden was in the Gardens and wanted to talk to me.

The Gardens hadn't been fully repaired. It would be a very long time - perhaps longer than I lived - before they were back to their former splendor. But the glass was repaired. The beds had been replanted and were in varying states of growth, and there were fish in the lake again. Streams ran through muddy beds filled with adult fast growing plants and sprouts only a few centimeters high.

I found Seivarden leaning against a rock wall disguising a section door. (It had been decided that it would be best to avoid a repeat incident even if that meant changing the Gardens' layout. They were now divided into a number of themed rooms with natural looking dividers set with doors, maze like paths running between them.) She was staring at a spring bubbling out of the rock. I might have thought she was trying to meditate, except that I knew her, and Ship told me she was frustrated and anxious and making no efforts to control her breathing.

"Seivarden," I said, a few feet away.

She looked up, not surprised. She'd heard me coming, or Ship had warned her. "Breq," she said. "I heard the provisional government was going to offer you an assignment.

"You heard correctly." Gossip was like that on stations. "Are you upset by the thought of leaving Station?" I had looked forward to the thought of having Seivarden with me, almost to my own surprise. We hadn't spent much time in private in a long time, almost since before she knew I was _Justice of Toren_.

I didn't know what to expect from her, away from military routine and in private, and I should have wanted to avoid finding out. But instead the thought that Seivarden might want to stay on Station, with access to shops and the things her fame could buy her without wealth, and with other people, distressed me.

"Upset?" Seivarden blinked, then ,"You want me to come?"

"It was suggested I bring at least one or two more crew. Medic is needed on Station, Lieutenant Ekalu didn't want to leave, and you know we'd never pry Tisarwat away." I thought about how that sounded, would sound to Seivarden. "And I didn't want Lieutenant Ekalu or Medic. I wanted you to come with me and Ship."

"Fuck, Breq." Slowly, Seivarden grinned. "Of course I want to come. I've spent my whole life on ships since I was a baby Lieutenant. Station is great but it's not for me, not all the time."

She didn't mention any more personal reasons for wanting to come. Unnecessarily, Ship said to us both, "She would miss you, too."

"I know," I said, looking with Seivarden at the churning mud in the pool below the spring. "Are you looking forward to meeting the Presger?"

Seivarden shuddered. "Don't remind me. They have humans - err, Translators - to handle trade negotiations, right? They must. They make deals for medical correctives with other humans."

"We're going to find out," I said. Truthfully, Tisarwat had been understating it, saying we might be gone for months. Going to negotiate with the Presger could easily be a trip we didn't come back from at all.

When I hadn't been paying attention, somehow, Seivarden had become the officer I would most want at my side, facing that - along with Ship.

"Ship, now I know she's happy," Seivarden said. "She never hums that one unless she's gloating about something."

"We should make arrangements for our supplies," I said, ignoring this. "There's a shortage of correctives on Station. We need to leave as soon as possible." That was - at least officially - why the government had asked _Mercy of Kalr_ and I to leave so quickly, via such informal arrangements.

"Good," Seivarden said. For some reason, Ship passed on the thought she had then, of the urge to grab my hand.

I didn't like most touch, but I remembered when Ship had sent her to join me in bed after my injuries. Seivarden, in some situations, could be an exception, and I could understand a prompt. I reached out for hand.

We walked together like that to the entrance of the Gardens, and beyond it.


End file.
